Are we in the thrall of a giving season? Apparently not. Americans don’t think of giving as seasonal.
Throughout 2014, we donated $360 billion to those less fortunate, and remarkably, $259 billion was donated by individuals as compared to corporation’s relatively measly $18 billion, with bequests and foundations donating the rest. But we discuss giving much more during the holiday season. In that spirit, let’s travel into the story of one donation-dependent organization in Northern Virginia, one that categorically changes the lives of our elementary-age neighbors.
Enter Ruth Hazel Little, executive director of Emerging Scholars based out of Arlington.
The Who
Little took her first breath as an old-fashioned Virginia blizzard blew against the walls of Arlington Hospital. The roads too treacherous for travel, she and her parents stayed put, unable to return to the family farm in Broad Run for two weeks and Little slept in a cozy dresser drawer in Arlington. Little’s humble and caring beginning divined her future as an adult who would go onto to cherish and help so many other children from Northern Virginia.
In Broad Run Little grew up on a beef cattle farm. From the beginning, her role was one of a working member of the family. Everybody was expected to pull their weight. “The girls had to do the food, the gardening. We’d get up in the middle of the night to do the canning. There was no other option to get the job done, so whatever it took, you had to do. [My sister and I] made our own clothes,” she says.
Little graduated high school and entered Duke University to study French and business administration. But she continued to work, much to the chagrin of her father, who wanted her to concentrate on her studies. She married a couple years after college graduation. “I just let things fall into place. I had no mentors. That’s one of the things I want for the students in Emerging Scholars—to be proactive and have a path. Not to just fall into something but be intentional and self-advocate,” she says.
The What
Back in Northern Virginia, Little raised three daughters and a son, but as they grew older, she sought work outside the home again. This time, Flint Hill School hired her in its admissions office. There she witnessed the heartwarming system of financial aid for underprivileged children but too often with a heartbreaking conclusion. “We’d give a whole bunch of financial aid to kids that needed it—to low income families, lots of athletes—but after two or three years, they were gone. The kids never felt at home there. They never really assimilated into the community. We saw a real need for these kids to be prepped to hit the ground running,” she says.
After conferring with local educators and experts, Little and the other pioneers of Emerging Scholars decided to start a program to ready gifted yet underprivileged children for a charter school setting. They modeled it after New York City’s flourishing Prep for Prep NYC.
Like any new organization, Little and her colleagues needed to prove to potential donors Emerging Scholars was trustworthy. “We had to convince people we can make someone’s life better. We just rolled up our sleeves; you don’t ask yourself too many questions. You don’t give yourself reasons not to do it. You just do it,” she says.
Thirteen years later, Emerging Scholars accepts 24 rising fourth graders each year into the program. They surface from wide-ranging backgrounds but with two things in common: They have sharp minds, and their families can’t afford the educational opportunities many other children enjoy in Northern Virginia. One 11-year-old accepted into Emerging Scholars took care of her prematurely born baby sister before getting herself to school, and many of the students live in crowded apartments with no table or counter space to do homework.
The Emerging Scholars teachers instill the children with advanced academic and leadership training each Saturday during fifth grade, as well as six solid weeks during the preceding and following summer. Once the boys and girls finish the first part of Emerging Scholars, they are placed in private schools for sixth grade.
Emerging Scholars guarantees each kid receives full funding, resources and one-on-one encouragement from sixth to 12th grade. The strong counselling, support and academic enrichment results in profound change.
There is 100 percent graduation rate. And the kids go onto post-secondary institutions like Columbia University, Johns Hopkins, Boston College and James Madison University.
And for the Northern Virginia community, the change is felt as our world is filled with more civic-minded, educated citizens who in turn now understand the transformative magic of a good education.
~~~
You can donate as little as $10 to help launch our elementary-age neighbors into a greater future via Emerging Scholars.